Winter Hymn

“Heaven is a poor market for ice.”

--E. M. Bounds--

When the last rose of summer is fallen,
When the snow lies deep in the dell,
Just recall the God of the Summer
Is God of the Winter as well.

When the last testimony is given,
When the last chime has faded away,
Know that He is Lord in the darkness
As sure as He is in the day.

When all of your questions and struggles
On the Winter's fierce tempest are tossed
Don't forget that the earth's central fires
Burn on, 'neath the snow and the frost.

Never think that your doubts and confusion
Can alter God's battle that's won;
All the rime and the snow of the winter
Never douse nor dampen the sun.

When the streams of your heart all grow sluggish,
When the cold grips your soul like a vice,
Know that Living Water's still living
Even when frozen to ice.

Though the ice may be hard as a stone is,
Yet stones have their place in God's ways,
On the road that runs up to Jerusalem
Where the rocks cry out in praise.

Never hoard up your doubts in the winter
Though the cold cuts your soul like a sword
Just bring them all into the temple
As an iced sacrifice to the Lord.

As Moses and Job and Elijah,
When wearied and longing for death,
Bring all your doubts to the Maker
And breathe life anew from His breath.

For Jesus brought wine out of water
And turned Egypt's dust into lice--
And He still holds the power supernal 
To conjure forth water from ice.

Though the months may all be so barren
That life's return seems a fraud,
Know that flowers shall burst from this wasteland
As light from the grave of God.

When the heavens seem colder than iron,
And the hymns are too heavy to sing,
Just recall that the God of the Winter
Is also the God of Spring.